The mist cleared, and David let go of the squirming shrine maiden he'd had pinned against his side. She staggered back one step then two and fell to her knees. "Hey," he looked down at her, "you alright?"

Sylphiel curled her knees up closer, then abruptly swung her rod at him when he took a step nearer, her eyes overflowing with tears as she looked up. "I'm beginning to realize that the question 'are you alright' is the stupidest one to ask in the world. Generally the answer seems to be 'No, I'm not, you damn bastard.'" Rasmus observed blandly.

David had to agree and watched as Sylphiel staggered to her feet, "Don't- touch me!" she gasped, "Don't ever touch me!"

Taking a breath, Rasmus shook his head, "Would it help if I said I was sorry?" he asked, "I'm trying my best now."

Behind them, the demonbeast was wallowing in the cloud of dust it had kicked up from its landing, grinding itself into the dirt in an effort to make SURE that the little pests were dead. David glanced in that direction and frowned, then turned back to Sylphiel.

"No!" she shouted at him, "Sorry doesn't bring back the dead!"

"Tears don't either," Rasmus pointed out. "Temper tantrums don't get you anything either, except maybe a sword in the gut. I learned that one the hard way."

David winced mentally, "I don't think you're saying the right thing to her."

Growling, Rasmus turned away, "Shut up, David, I don't need your help right now. Let me fuck things up on my own."

"Instead," David murmured, taking over before Rasmus could say anything else to make a sailor blush, "why don't you just fix them. Taking a negative view of it will only ensure failure."

Shaking her head, Sylphiel gripped her rod in both hands, charging at him and swinging it. If the demonbeast had been dead, Rasmus would have let it hit, but instead he caught it and held on as she struggled to either get it loose or continue her swing. "Is that what you call Sairaag!" she shouted, "A temper tantrum!"

David remained silent this time, letting Rasmus handle it, though he did so reluctantly. He had to agree, though, that this was something Rasmus needed to work through himself. Tightening his grip on the end of the scepter, Rasmus held the shrine maiden off and calmly replied, "Yes, that's what I call it, because that's what it was. I didn't understand anything back then, all I knew was pain, and nothing was Fair or Right. I thought that if I could just be better than Him then I'd get better treatment, but no matter how hard I tried, I was never good enough for Her, but I kept trying for the stupid reason that maybe I really hadn't done it right, and that my memories of Him were just wrong and She was right. She said fight you, so I did, but I wasn't winning and I wanted to win, I wanted to defeat the enemies that had killed Him even though I knew He killed Himself. Just like I did- dying by stupidity and trying to take the greatest number of people with me." He shoved Sylphiel's rod aside and she staggered a few steps and Gourry caught her, a frown pulling at his handsome lips.

Shivering, Rasmus stared at the ground, face turned away, "So... in effect, it was a temper tantrum," he concluded. Taking a breath, he turned to face them again, "I don't care about that anymore, though. It's in the past, and no amount of talking, or even penance can bring them back. ...David told me it was a mistake, and mistakes shouldn't be repeated, we should learn from them and move on. Even if I'm still just a copy, that doesn't give me the right to act childish."

Amelia pumped her fist, "Mr. David is right!" she agreed, "Mr. Rasmus, you shouldn't look on the dark side of thing so much! Because, Life is Wonderful!"

Turning, Rasmus stared at her in shock. "W...what?" Had she just...taken his side? A hand came up to clutch his chest, trying to contain the warmth that spread from her use of his name.

Striking a pose, Amelia announced, "If you keep thinking bad things, then eventually, they come true!" she levered a finger at him then, and Rasmus twitched, "Like when you thought you were nothing but a copy," she pointed out, "You made it true."

David laughed softly, "She's right, you know," he added his two cents, now that he had backup. "Really, you're being like Zel, downright pissy and I'm getting tired of it. At least with him, I can smack him upside the head and tell him to quit, but you're a little more difficult to get at."

Lina folded her arms and sighed, then nodded, "I agree," she admitted, "You made me treat you like I did."

"But..." Rasmus whimpered.

Amelia shook her head, "No Buts! You're still thinking of yourself as Evil, but I believe you can change your ways! After all- the other Sylphiel loves you!"

Rasmus blushed deeply and glanced towards the Sylphiel that stood behind him, tears still running down her face as she leaned against Gourry. It hurt to see her like that. He wanted to reach over and wipe away the pain, but didn't dare. She wasn't going to let him near her. He didn't deserve to touch her. "She loves David," he said instead, falling back on a different line of defense, "she doesn't really know me, doesn't really think I exist."

Heaving a sigh, David shook his head, "She does too. She asked you to keep me safe," he pointed out, "Speaking of which," he glanced towards the demonbeast, "We're not out of the red yet. What's the next step of the plan, genius?"

Flushing, Rasmus shook his head, "I- I- don't know. I thought... Lina would know something once we got it on the ground where we could reach it better."

Folding her arms, Lina turned to look at the creature that was now finished digging a pit into the ground near the concert stadium and eyeing that building rather intently, "Dragon Slaves and Rah Tilts don't work," she pointed out. "They're only irritating it."

"But, doubling the power of the Dragon Slave seemed to do some damage, maybe if all four of us cast it at the same time?" Rasmus timidly offered.

A sly expression crossed her face, one that Rasmus didn't catch, for he was staring at the ground again, all hint of courage or power gone from him. He looked meek and chided as he twisted the end of his sleeve with deft long fingers. David said nothing, not knowing enough about magic to be of any use. Turning to look at the demonbeast again, Lina took a breath, "Well, there's one more spell to try, I suppose..."

This did indeed get Rasmus's attention and he leapt forward, smacking the back of Lina's head hard enough to knock her over, "Don't you DARE cast that!" he snapped at her, "If I wanted a crater, I'd make one myself. There's got to be a better way than that!"

Slowly picking herself up from the ground, Lina laughed, rubbing the back of her head, then looked up at him with a smile, "That was just a test," she replied.

Shock made him step back a pace. "That's the smile Lina gives her friends," David observed, smirking from the backseat.

"I was just checking to see if you'd really changed," Lina continued and got to her feet, dusting herself off and put her hands on her hips. "I know the dangers of casting that spell," she added, "so if there is another way, we'll find it. Do you know the Raagna Blade?"

Blinking, Rasmus puzzled this one, "I might... it sounds familiar." He disappeared, leaving David in control.

"He's gone off to hunt through Rezo's memories," David explained and rubbed his forehead, "How he can keep anything straight, I don't know," he shook his head, "but Ras says he's got a filing system he keeps everything Rezo knew in. Or something like that. Sort of defeats the purpose of learning from Rezo's mistakes if you take them out of context, but ..." David shrugged, "I guess I shouldn't be surprised that he's as stubborn as me. We're the same person." He glanced towards the tree for a long moment, "Your other selves are over there," he added, "Lina and Gourry, Zelgadis and Sylphiel's anyway. I think... Amelia went back to Seyruun."

Abruptly, Rasmus re-emerged. "Funny how it's my fault you all met in the first place," he added, "and I did it again here. Yes, I know the Raagna Blade, as well as a few other Chaos spells I could show you later. They're not as powerful as the Giga Slave, but ...well... you haven't destroyed the world yet."

Lina grinned and gave a wink and thumbs up. "Alright then! I say we slice and dice this lobster with the Raagna Blade and give it a good kicking too." Her eyes traveled to the rest of the group, "Ready?"

Amelia pumped her fist, Zelgadis merely nodded, Gourry gave a verbal agreement, but Sylphiel remained silent. Rasmus glanced towards her, but she had her face buried against Gourry's chest. "I don't like seeing her like that either," David soothed, "But we do have bigger things than personal relationships right now. And... honestly, there's only one body between us. We don't need two girlfriends."

Reluctantly, Rasmus had to agree and turned to follow Lina as she set off to restart the battle with their lobster-beast. "I wonder if she sees it as food," Rasmus stared up at the thing. It really did kinda look like a lobster or ... something of that general body shape. Putting such strange thoughts from his mind, Rasmus turned his concentration towards making the spells he'd selected available to David. "Got it?" he asked, once he was finished and returned to the 'backseat' and watched as David followed Lina.

"Yep," was David's murmur.

Ahead, the demonbeast Garadaar lifted itself out of the crater it had created and stretched, then turned, beginning to head towards the stadium, apparently intending that to be its next casualty. Lifting an armored claw-like foot, it smashed through the walls, finned scorpion tail arching up over it's back in delight at the destruction it was causing. The other claw lifted and crashed through the nosebleed section of the seating.

"Woah!" Gourry observed, "He's huge!"

David shook his head, "Only the size of a football stadium. That's just the concert hall," but after the blank looks he was given, David shut up. "Hey, uh, Gourry, do you have a regular sword, or what?"

Gourry lifted the Star of Justice sword he'd gotten from the Peacemen and shook his head, "It's normal, I think."

Reaching into his cloak, Rasmus grasped the first thing that came to hand and looked at it as they came to a stop beneath the demonbeast, but far enough away from the stadium to avoid falling blocks of concrete. "Here, Howling Sword- version three. Never liked the first two," Rasmus tossed it to Gourry, sheath and all. Catching it, the swordsman felt the balance, then switched it with the other sword. "Underpowered in my opinion, but Eris didn't give much time to make it real nice."

"Hey! Thanks. Hang onto this for me?" Gourry asked, tossing the other sword back. Giving a nod, Rasmus stuck the Star of Justice sword into his cloak.

David muttered, "Hey, why didn't we use one of those things before?"

"Because, dork, neither of us knows how to use a sword. Besides, my staff was enchanted. It amplified power and was super tough metal," Rasmus answered.

Pursing his lips, David looked off towards the city, "Speaking of which... we lost it at the beginning of the fight..."

Snorting, Rasmus held out his hand. "No we didn't." The air glowed in his palm, then expanded, snapping into a line that went from the ground to the height of Rasmus's head. Closing his fingers over it, the sorcerer twisted his wrist, and the light shattered with a clash of metal rings that rang like bells in the night. By now, the moon had risen and was full, casting plenty of light upon the battlefield. Zelgadis looked over, and winced at the sound. "Sorry," Rasmus murmured, "but I lost it earlier." Shifting, he slipped it into his subspace pocket.

Lina shook her head, then turned and leapt atop a block of rubble beneath Garadaar's feet, the gems on her wrists, throat, and belt, flashing just before she began casting another spell. "Demon's blood talisman?" Rasmus murmured, only just realizing that they weren't for show, like the jewels on her shoulder guards. "Fits her," he muttered and closed his eyes. "Lets do it, David."

Stepping up beside Lina, Rasmus took a breath and lifted his hands, speaking out loud while David murmured within his mind, matching time with the sorceress, who was actually at eye level with him at the moment. "Lord of the Darkness and Four Worlds, I beseech thy fragments; by all of the power thou possess, grant the heavens' wrath to my hand; unleash the sword of dark, freezing nothingness; by our power, our combined might, let us walk as one along the path of destruction..."

Around them, black lightning flickered, twin lances of it arcing up between their hands. As they reached the finale of the chant, their fingers closed over the power. "Raagna Blade!" they shouted together, and the swords formed. Admittedly, Rasmus held a spear, and Lina's was a broad bladed sword, but the effect was still stunning.

Drawing his sword, Gourry gave a testing swing to it. Zelgadis drew his own sword. "Astral Vine," he cast upon it, and Amelia clasped her glowing fists. Sylphiel merely lifted her scepter.

"Lets go!" Lina shouted and took off, heading towards the closest part of the demonbeast, firmly putting out of her mind the fact that it could easily just step on her and she'd be dead.

Swinging her blade downward, Lina gave a shout as it contacted one of the heavily armored legs of Garadaar. For a moment, the armor resisted, then her spell cut through. The leg moved away and the demonbeast shifted, pulling its large spherical head from the stadium and an eye, mounted like a chameleon's swiveled down to look at Lina.

Rasmus surged past her then, leaping up from one piece of rubble to the next until he was inside the stadium. She saw him again when he reached the top of the wall and slashed at the other enormous eye. "Aim for its joints!" Lina ordered and the others launched into motion.

"Hyah!" Gourry shouted from beside her and a blast of wind-energy slashed through the air, hitting the joint of the leg Lina had already scratched. Amelia and Zelgadis paired up on the next leg over and were taking turns at attacking and dodging as the demonbeast tried to stomp them. Rasmus wasn't faring so well, above. Garadaar lifted its pincers and snapped at the sorcerer when his Raagna Spear left a scratch on the demonbeast's eyelid as it squeezed its eye shut just before the spell hit. Unable to take any more time observing, Lina sprang back into action.

Rasmus dodged another clip from the left pincer, backing up along the narrow wall of the stadium. The right pincer was nowhere to be seen, and that worried him. Taking a breath, he charged forward, slipping under the left pincer when it drew back to snip again. He had the disturbing feeling that the thing was herding him, and he was not going to stand for that! Predictably, the demonbeast brought its claw down, intending to crush Rasmus as he went beneath it, but he angled his spear upwards and caught the tip of his spell-blade between the plates of armor covering the creature's claw.

Still, he nearly got crushed as the blade slid in for a fair distance before finally hitting something that caused pain. Rasmus jabbed the spear upwards firmly and wiggled it. Shrieking in fury as the little pests it thought it had killed had begun to really make a nuisance of themselves, Garadaar jerked its claw back, a rain of sticky green-black ichor splattering across Rasmus as his spear slid out from the joint. At least, with a blade like this, it couldn't get caught and pulled from his hands.

With the pincer's retreat, Rasmus had a moment to look down at the fight below him. They looked to be faring about the same as Rasmus: drawing some blood, but not doing much in the way of real damage. In despair, he looked towards the demonbeast again, which had raised its right pincer from harassing Lina and Gourry up to bother him. Amelia and Zelgadis had moved to the back left side, taking advantage of the fact that the creature only had two eyes, even if they could look in every direction independently. Rasmus brought his spear around and parried another snip, then leapt back when the claw slammed into the walkway he'd just been standing on, breaking through the thin shell of concrete and leaving a gaping hole.

Turning, Rasmus dodged the left pincer again. It was still dripping that horrid gunk, but otherwise, the wound hadn't been enough to disable the appendage entirely. Leaping forward, Rasmus escaped a double-jab from the claws and landed on the demonbeast's head, turning to face both the creature's eyes as the large slit pupils focused on him intently.

A very dangerous position, but now he had its full attention. Rasmus dashed forward, those eyes following his progress across its head. Both pincers lifted again, aiming carefully in an effort to pick the vermin off its scalp. The tail arched up, poisoned tip poised to strike. "I could almost feel sorry for it," David muttered. "Almost."

"It's not getting an ounce of sympathy from me," Rasmus replied and dodged a claw as it carefully tried to pick him off. The tail swayed above him and the creature danced on all six of its legs.

Rasmus dodged to the right as the tail stabbed downwards, the tip clacking off the armor plating that covered the skull. Turning, he swung his spear around and slashed. This time, though the eye closed again, his spear slipped between the lids and ichor spurted out in a satisfying arc.

He didn't have the time to rejoice, for the demonbeast reared its head and shook, sending Rasmus flying. "Rasmus- Look there!" Focusing his eyes, Rasmus searched over the head of the demonbeast, trying to find what David had seen.

A claw swung upwards, clipping him in the side, and as one, David and Rasmus lost concentration on their blade. Dazed, they crashed to the ground, then slid down between a pair of blocks as the demonbeast screamed in pain and fury, thrashing around blindly.

Darkness took him.